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Whistleblower News From The Inside -- December 19, 2016

Posted  December 19, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Study shows whistleblowers effective in changing corporate America — “For those who doubt that whistle-blowers are a force for good in corporate America… a new study out of the University of Iowa could not be more important. It demonstrates for the first time that financial shenanigans at companies decrease markedly in the years after truth tellers come forward with information about wrongdoing inside their operations.” NYT

Guilty pleas in international online fraud conspiracy —  Six Nigerian nationals and one from South Africa have pleaded guilty to using “romance scams” to recruit unsuspecting victims to launder money via Western Union and MoneyGram, to re-package and re-ship fraudulently obtained merchandise and to cash counterfeit checks. US DOJ

Major used car dealers settle inspection claim probe — CarMax, Asbury Automotive and West Herr Automotive have agreed to settle federal charges that they promoted meticulous inspections but didn’t disclose that some vehicles under open recall for safety issues weren’t repaired. The proposed consent order would prohibit them from claiming their used vehicles are safe, have been repaired for safety issues, or have been subject to an inspection for safety-related issues, unless they are free of open recalls, or the companies clearly and conspicuously disclose that their vehicles may be subject to unrepaired recalls for safety issues and explain how consumers can determine whether a vehicle is subject to a recall. WSJ

Three Romanian nationals charged in $4 million cyber fraud scheme — The three began operating in Romania in 2007 with the development of a proprietary malware used to infect and control more than 60,000 computers. The co-conspirators allegedly used the computers to harvest personally identifiable information; disable malware protection; and solve complex algorithms to accrue valuable cryptocurrency for the financial benefit of the group, a process known as cryptocurrency mining. US DOJ

New York State man pleads guilty to food stamp fraud — Irving Feldman pleaded guilty to engaging in two schemes that brought him $1.4 million. One of them, the more lucrative, involved unlawfully buying food stamps from willing recipients for less than half their face value. The recipients received cash, and Feldman was able to reap a considerable profit by redeeming the food stamps with the federal government for their full value. Democrat & Chronicle

Deutsche Bank will pay $37 million to settle government investigations into “dark pools” — The bank reached a settlement with the SEC and the New York State Attorney General regarding false statements and omissions it made in its private trading venues. Deutsche is the third European bank this year to settle investigations into whether they properly policed their stock-trading platforms. Market Watch